{"id":37470,"date":"2017-12-20T13:57:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T13:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=37470"},"modified":"2018-02-09T11:52:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T11:52:48","slug":"dclg-accused-of-lack-of-urgency-on-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/dclg-accused-of-lack-of-urgency-on-homelessness\/37470\/","title":{"rendered":"DCLG accused of \u2018lack of urgency\u2019 on rise in homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>MPs have said that government departments are not working together effectively enough to address the rise in homelessness<\/h2>\n<p>A data dependent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/department-for-communities-and-local-government\">DCLG<\/a> has \u201cnot shown enough urgency\u201d in addressing the rise in homelessness, a <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/cm201719\/cmselect\/cmpubacc\/462\/46202.htm\">Commons report<\/a> reveals.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/business\/committees\/committees-a-z\/commons-select\/public-accounts-committee\/\">Public Accounts Committee<\/a> (PAC) also said that government departments are failing to work together effectively enough to address what is now a national crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Calling the rise in homelessness as clear over five years ago, PAC cites DCLG as only now acknowledging its \u2018light touch\u2019 approach has not worked.<\/p>\n<p>To the committee, DCLG lacks the proper understanding of those who are homeless and it needs to ensure that they are being helped effectively.<\/p>\n<p>The department\u00a0accepted its previous system for collecting data\u00a0on homeless households was seriously limited.<\/p>\n<p>However, PAC goes further to say DCLG does not seem either to understand or measure the extent of hidden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/ikozie-home-tackle-homelessness\/35018\/\">homelessness<\/a>, and has not modelled the costs and causes of homelessness recently.<\/p>\n<p>To PAC, DCLG puts too much faith in its developing data system to track\u00a0individuals\u2019 experiences of homelessness and the impact this has on them.<\/p>\n<p>PAC is doubtful as to what DCLG can really achieve with its new system \u2013 as opposed to what it thinks it can achieve \u2013 in the linking and understanding between administrative information on homeless households and their income, health and wellbeing, and interactions with other public services.<\/p>\n<p>The DCLG, supported by data from the DWP, has been challenged to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ensure the system helps estimate the wider costs of homelessness to public services<\/li>\n<li>Enables councils to access information on when homeless people have entered and exited the welfare system to monitor its impact on their housing situation<\/li>\n<li>Enables a measuring of\u00a0 the full extent of hidden homelessness<\/li>\n<li>Shows where local services are, and are not, effective at helping those who are homeless.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since 2010, all measures of homelessness in England have risen.<\/p>\n<p>The number of\u00a0children living in temporary accommodation has increased by 73% to 120,170, and the number of people counted as sleeping rough has more than doubled to 4,134.<\/p>\n<p>Those who work with homeless people estimate that the true extent of homelessness is much higher.<\/p>\n<p>The report says local councils cannot solve this alone and \u2018working more closely\u2019 with councils is no substitute for emphatic government action.<\/p>\n<p>Organisations working with homeless people told PAC the government\u00a0needs to tackle homelessness in a collaborative manner and not ignore the impact of the decisions it makes, including freezing and capping local housing allowance as part of welfare reforms, on the numbers of people made homeless.<\/p>\n<p>While the DCLG and DWP said that they work together to assess the impact of welfare reforms, PAC found they had yet to assess the impact of recent changes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/may-confirms-local-housing-allowance-cap-will-not-apply-to-supported-housing\/35897\/\">Local Housing Allowance<\/a> have had on homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>To PAC, the government commitment to eliminate rough sleeping by 2027 addresses \u2018the tip of the iceberg\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The report urges DCLG and DWP to work together to ensure clear progress is made against the targets and measures in the strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Also by the end year, the DWP is expected to set out to PAC what work it has undertaken to identify any elements of welfare reform that are having an impact on homelessness and what steps it has taken to mitigate them.<\/p>\n<p>Where PAC identifies an \u2018unacceptable shortage\u2019 of realistic housing options for households that are either homeless or are at immediate risk of homelessness, DCLG is expected to enable councils to offer better value for money.<\/p>\n<p>Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, who gave evidence to the PAC, said:\u00a0\u201cThis report confirms the fact that some government policies are causing homelessness while others are attempting to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe good news is that with the right changes in policy, homelessness can be ended.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver Christmas and throughout winter, thousands of people across the country will be sleeping out in the cold, and thousands more will be trapped in unsuitable temporary accommodation, or sleeping in cars or on public transport, hidden from help.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mental and emotional impacts of this crisis cannot be understated: the average age of death of a homeless person is just 47 years old, and they are nine times more likely to commit suicide than the general public.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis cannot go on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who sits on the committee, added:\u00a0\u201cThis damning report exposes the government\u2019s failure to protect the most vulnerable in society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSoaring levels of homelessness have meant even\u00a0many people in work are\u00a0now finding themselves on the streets or in temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe complacency ministers are showing on this issue\u00a0is totally unacceptable and must come to an end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of passing the buck to local authorities, the government must take responsibility for ending rough sleeping and building the truly affordable homes the country needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"mk-custom-module-container\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MPs have said that government departments are not working together effectively enough to address the rise in homelessness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[666,829,571,656],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-planning-construction-news","7":"tag-affordable-housing","8":"tag-homelessness","9":"tag-housing-crisis","10":"tag-housing"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DCLG accused of \u2018lack of urgency\u2019 on rise in homelessness | Planning, Building &amp; Construction 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